[PaQSO] Digital Modes

[Hal Offutt]

Hello,

You can't introduce a new mode without having an impact on the existing 
modes.  This rules change will necessarily reduce activity on both CW and 
SSB.  If you get 2 points for an RTTY contact on the most important band in 
the contest (40 meters), 1.5 points for a CW contact and 1 point for an SSB 
contact, it's clear that there is a big incentive to operate RTTY.  Stations 
spending time on RTTY will spend fewer hours on CW and SSB.  Even on 80 
where CW and RTTY contacts will be of equal value, a good percentage of 
people who would be on either CW or SSB under the current rules will be 
operating RTTY, meaning fewer stations to work on CW and SSB.

This change is supposed to ward off the Sunday Doldrums.  It may indeed do 
this but it will also dilute the current levels of activity and will 
probably make each individual mode less busy for the entire length of the 
contest.  Stations nimble enough to operate (and wealthy enough to own) two 
or three rigs at the same time or to get geared up to make quick changes 
among three modes and different bands may do very well and rack up big 
scores.  This sounds like an interesting and fun challenge for an 
experienced contester, but it may be overwhelming for a lot of newcomers.

I suspect that this rules change might also make the PAQP even more of an 
intra-state contest than it is today.  When participants can make easy 
in-state contacts on 80 and 40 using three different modes, they are likely 
to spend less time on the higher bands.  If this is the case, the recent 
increases we have seen in 20 meter activity are likely to be reversed as 
out-of-staters and DX stations find fewer PA stations to work.  Whether this 
is good or bad depends on your point of view and whether you want the PAQP 
to be an activity fun for everyone or a contest mostly for PA stations.

AD8J raised an important point about RTTY interferring with CW on 40 Meters. 
The ARRL band plan calls for domestic RTTY operation to take place between 
7080 and 7100.  If ops stay in this range, it will not be a problem for CW, 
but if there is a lot of RTTY activity and stations slide down into the CW 
portion of the band, CW activity will be completely drowned out.  Since 
there are already two other RTTY contests on this weekend, I suspect that 
the band could become very difficult for CW operation (and impossible for 
mobiles).

As one who enjoys CW and mobile operating, this change will make the PAQP 
considerably less attractive to me and I doubt that I will participate any 
longer.  I say this not out of bitterness but merely as a statement of fact. 
I will miss the old PAQP but I things change and we have to adapt.  I may 
even enter from Ohio someday if I ever have time to get myself up to speed 
on RTTY.  Happily for me and other mobile-loving CW ops, several nearby 
states have resurected their own QSO parties in recent years and these have 
become mostly CW events that attract 8-10 mobile participants, so I have a 
lot more alternatives (and a lot more mobile competition) than I used to 
have.

Good luck with the new rules.

73,

Hal W1NN op of W3USA/M (ex K8HVT/M)